Bondi Junction shopping centre security to come under review over stabbing attack

Almost one year on from the Bondi Junction massacre, owners and security subcontractors who operated the Westfield shopping centre are primed to face criticism.

Almost one year on from Sydney’s Bondi Junction massacre, owners and security subcontractors who operated the Westfield shopping centre are primed to face criticism for their response to the attack.

At the final directions before the coronial inquest into Joel Cauchi’s murder of six bystanders, the coroner set aside five weeks for analysis of events leading up to, and responding to, the stabbing spree. It will run from April 28 to May 30.

Central topics at the full inquest will include shortcomings of the mental health system and the emergency response procedures of the Westfield’s owner Scentre group and its dual security subcontractors Falcon Manpower Solution and Glad Group, which are expected to face criticism and were signposted as particular interests of victims’ families.

At a prior hearing in November, the inquest heard how Cauchi, 40, went unmedicated for five years before the attacks despite being diagnosed with severe mental health issues, and was confronted by police on at least four occasions yet eluded intervention.

His mental health “deteriorated” and he was often homeless, living between Toowoomba, Sydney and Brisbane. Cauchi twice called the police on his parents for “stealing” his collection of knives, which they hid away out of concern for his diminishing mental state.

At the inquest, the court will hear from Cauchi’s doctors, friends and loved ones. There will also be a review of his medical records and investigation of “his phone, his writings and anything he possessed”. NSW Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan will preside.

Expert witnesses will include four psychiatrists, a toxicologist, a security expert, an emergency medicine doctor and a GP. Counsel assisting will seek to provide final written submissions by August 14, followed by family statements by September 5 and final statements of interested parties “who may face criticism” by September 25. An additional round of oral submissions may be held on October 9.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, signposted recommendations around possible alternatives for the treatment of chronic schizophrenia, restrictions on selling weapons like the K-BAR knife used by Cauchi, the utility of giving security contractors new equipment and media regulation codes of conduct.

JAMES DOWLING